


Recovery

by ancslove



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Angst, First Meetings, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-07 07:18:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12836073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancslove/pseuds/ancslove
Summary: Fleeing Cloud City, Lando Calrissian meets the man he helped rescue, and finds a new purpose as his old life dissolves.





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/gifts).



_They’re after someone called Skywalker._

At the time, the name Skywalker had meant nothing to Lando Calrissian. More concerned with keeping his people safe and pushing down the guilt of betraying his old friend, he viewed the fact that the man in the middle of this nightmarish trap was a complete stranger to him as a slap in the face. His world was crashing down, not thanks to a bad business deal (well, he was quickly learning that any deal with the Empire was bad for business) or an old buddy with a personal grudge, but due to a stranger who had the stupidity to get on the wrong side of Lord Vader. A stranger who’d apparently won the rarely-bestowed loyalty of Han Solo, a man who found it hard to care about anything beyond his ship and his Wookiee. The reality of the situation should have hit hard, but by the time Lando was pulling the semi-conscious, mutilated boy into the Falcon, everything had started to go numb. Only after their miraculous escape from Cloud City could he begin to process everything that had happened.

Luke Skywalker was a boy. Lobot (and Lando surpressed a wince) had told him that Skywalker was a dangerous Rebel warrior who’d destroyed the Empire’s Death Star. Chewie had mentioned in passing, as they fled under Vader’s nose, that Skywalker was a Jedi in training. Right now, Jedi or not, he looked unable to last three rounds with a bantha cub. Perhaps it was a combination of his bruised face and amputated wrist, and her fierce charisma, but he seemed far more fragile than the Princess of Alderaan. Once in hyperspace, Leia fussed over him meticulously, and Lando found himself shunted to the side, under Chewbacca’s suspicious eye. For his part, Luke had barely glanced at him, and Lando was unsure if his disregard was due to shock and disorientation, or if he implicitly trusted anyone the Princess allowed around.

What did Vader want from this child? What did Han see in this boy, to defend him so ferociously?

Later, as they made their way to rendezvous with the Rebel fleet, Lando heard Chewie try to talk the Princess into getting some rest. Bored of sitting around and curious about the new boy, Lando said, “I’ll watch over Skywalker for you. He’ll probably sleep the rest of the way to your flagship, it’s no trouble.”

Leia looked at him warily, but less violently than she usually was. “And if he does wake? He doesn’t know you, and he’s been through a lot.”

“Chewie will be near, if he does. He knows Chewie, right? Han would want you to rest, Princess.”

Leia’s eyes flashed in fury. “Don’t. You have no right to invoke his name, after what you did to him! Don’t even mention him!”

“Whoa, whoa,” Lando said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I meant no disrespect.”

It was a testament to Leia’s exhaustion that she backed down so quickly. Even from their short acquaintanceship, Lando had gained a healthy respect for her durasteel will.

 

* * *

 

Left alone, Lando looked down at the sleeping Skywalker. Dark blond hair fell forward, almost hiding the blackened bruises around his eye. A pressure cuff stabilized his right forearm, curled into his torso protectively. No, this boy did not fit the part of legendary warrior or Imperial threat. And yet, he had apparently gone blade to blade with Lord Vader, and survived. There were Jedi Masters who couldn’t boast the same. Lando remembered the Jedi Guardians of the Republic. As a young boy, he’d loved watching their flowing cloaks and shimmering blades. He’d been crushed when their light had been extinguished. It was hard to see that glory in this wounded child.

Luke stirred then, eyes blinking sleepily up at him. Suddenly, he seemed to snap fully awake, and fixed the deepest, bluest gaze Lando had ever seen straight on him.

“Who are you?”

“Lando Calrissian. I was the Administrator of Cloud City, on Bespin. You’re on the Falcon, I, uh, caught you as you fell from the base of the city.” _Baron-Adminstrator_ , part of him still wanted to say. But that Lando, so proud of his title and his newly respectable image, was gone now. And he instinctively knew that this boy wouldn’t be interested in such vainglories, anyway.

“Where’s Han? I can feel Leia and Chewie, but not Han.”

“Han’s alive! He’s, ah, not here right now, but he’s alive. I can wake Leia up, she’ll explain.”

Lando wanted to calm Skywalker before he worked himself up and aggravated his injuries, but, like a coward, he did not want to explain Han’s fate. Leia would likely kill him anyway, if he was the one to break the news. It was better for everyone if she told the story.

Skywalker’s blue eyes sharpened. “I know he’s alive. Don’t wake Leia if she’s sleeping, she needs the rest. Tell me what happened to Han.”

Lando swallowed. Saying it would make it all too real. “Vader put Han in carbon-freeze, and then gave him to Boba Fett, a bounty hunter who works for Jabba. Vader didn’t really care about Han, or Princess Leia. He only wanted you.”

Luke dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

Lando desperately wanted to let Skywalker shoulder all the blame. It would be easy, at least until Leia and Chewie woke. Cast himself and Han as helpless pawns in the supernatural war between Sith and Jedi. Or Empire and Rebellion. Not his fault.

“It’s not your fault, kid.” Well, that wasn’t really what Lando had been planning to say. But there was no way back now. “I helped Vader take Han and Leia.”

Luke looked up at him, confusion and shock and anger playing across his bruised face. “Why?”

That one word opened the floodgates. Lando found himself explaining everything. The city of people depending on him for their well-being. Lord Vader’s initial promise that the Empire would leave Bespin alone, if only Lando gave him what he wanted. That peacefully handing over the unsuspecting Han and Leia would safeguard Lando’s people as well as Han’s own safety, averting needless bloodshed and pain. He spoke of losing control of the deal, of the changes Vader made at every turn. The shock of learning that Boba Fett had made his own pact, which ended up being worth more to Vader than some two-bit administrator who thought he could play on the galactic stage. It felt good to say it.

And as he spoke, Luke Skywalker watched him with those eerie blue eyes, neither condemning nor condoning.

Finally, Lando ran out of words. “What do we do now?” he asked.

Luke’s gaze had taken on a distant, farseeing quality as he answered. “Regroup, recover. We find Han. And get ready for the rematch.”

There was pain hiding in his voice. A barely discernable tremor hinted at the aftershocks Luke was still undergoing, following his own brutal encounter with the Dark Lord of the Sith. But his eyes held steady, glowing with determination and faith, and a power that Lando could almost feel himself. At that moment, Lando was ready to swear everything he had, mind and soul and heart, to the most remarkable young man he’d ever met.

“We will. We’ll get Han back. And then I’ll gladly join your cause.”

Luke shifted, freeing his good arm to offer his left hand. His grip was awkward but sturdy. “Welcome to the Rebel Alliance.”


End file.
